


i’m just gonna swim until you love me

by Dinosaur1212



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Amity Blight is a Mess, F/F, Jock Luz!, Scorekeeper Amity!, Swimming au!, What more could the world want/need!, amity really cannot stand luz in the beginning, blight parents are poopheads, but also i could see her being good at it, but aren't these fun to read?, but luz will eventually be doing her stupid stuff because she's in LOVE, edric and emira also swim because they are cool like that, edric has no idea, emira and edric really are there for amity lowkey, emira is totally up to something, i don't make the rules, i feel like i have too many tags as usual, i just follow them, i miss competitive swimming, i refuse to divulge any secrets!, i'll stop now okay, i'm really just emanating stuff i would do to my friend who was a scorekeeper, kinda angsty?, kinda slowburn?, luz is going to be doing stupid stuff to try and get amity to like her, luz just wants to patch things up between her and amity, luz will 10/10 be swimming fly because i am projecting, maybe fluff?, that's where this fic originated, the blight twins both definitely swim breaststroke, the blights' mom really is the worst, there is a severe lack of swimming aus across all fandoms so here i am blessing you all with this, there is no magic folks, unless you count the magic of love as a kind of magic!, wait i forgot to mention that luz is like really good at swimming, who knows what the world has in store!, y'all convinced me to do amity pov chapters :D
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26042239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinosaur1212/pseuds/Dinosaur1212
Summary: “Yes, and it is from talking with your coach that I also understand that the team is in need of a scorekeeper at the meets,” Bump vocalized, drawing another nod from Luz, causing him to continue on with his speaking, “Which brings us back to you Miss Blight.”“How does the swim team needing a scorekeeper apply to me?” Amity questioned, staring at Bump with a dumbfounded expression on her face.orthe one where luz and amity have a run in that results in amity being made the swim team scorekeeper, and luz just so happens to be on the swim team
Relationships: Amity Blight & Luz Noceda, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 79
Kudos: 434





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> omg hello everyone! i cannot stop myself from writing about these two relatable goons and now it's taking the form of a swimming au! i have so much inspiration for this!! probably because i'm passionate about swimming, but that's beside the point! the point is, enjoy everyone!
> 
> edit: i realized i should've put a tw for blood. i'm sorry for not putting one originally, but there are mentions of blood in this chapter

Luz was going to be in major trouble. More trouble than she had been in in a while. First, she slept in too late and missed the early morning swim practice, and now she was about to be late to homeroom. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if she hadn’t had two tardies already; a third would mean detention after school. That would mean missing another swim practice which she couldn’t afford to do, what with the first meet rapidly approaching.

So if Luz was running through the halls to get to class to stop that from happening, it was only to be expected. The halls were bare of students, everyone already in homeroom since the bell was soon to ring. It was this fact that might have led Luz to be a little more careless about making sure no one was around her.

She was approaching the turn that would lead her to the hallway where her homeroom was. Here was a trophy case in the middle, right before the turn to go down the hall, and Luz was rounding it when she ran into someone. 

Luz didn’t have time to say anything before the other person was reacting.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going nitwit.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, the person—who Luz had realized was none other than Amity Blight—pushed her. Pushed her right back into the trophy case she had just walked by. 

It wouldn’t have been that bad, but Luz wasn’t expecting it, nor did she have the best balance, so she was caught off guard by it. Which is how she found herself hitting the case at a much faster rate of speed than would’ve been expected. The trophy case itself was built into the floor, but it still had glass around the trophies. Glass that Luz happened to hit at just the right angle, causing it to crack before ultimately shattering; a few trophies toppling out due to the force of the case being hit.

Luz had let out a tiny squeal when she had been pushed, but now as she looked from the broken case to Amity, all she could only say, “Well this isn’t good.”

“Really?” Amity quipped, “You don’t say.”

By this point a few teachers and students had emerged from their classrooms to see what the commotion was; one teacher rushing over to Luz.

“Luz! You’re bleeding!”

“What?” Luz questioned, looking down at her arms to see that she was in fact bleeding from a few cuts on her arms from being pushed into the glass. Luz watched as a few drops hit the floor, but nonetheless she assured the teacher, “I’m fine! It’s nothing serious.”

“Regardless, you need to get to the nurse, which I’m sure Amity here will be glad to escort you to,” the teacher stated, “And after that, then you two can work your way to Principal Bump’s office to discuss what happened here.”

“Why do I have to escort  _ her _ to the nurse’s office?” Amity challenged, “She’s the one who ran into me.”

The teacher narrowed his eyes at Amity, “That doesn’t solve how she ended up in the trophy case, though, so hurry along before Luz bleeds even more.”

Amity stared right back at the teacher before looking at Luz and muttering, “Let’s go.”

Luz was happy to follow without a word, not wanting to make Amity even more mad than she already was. They were out of earshot of everyone when Amity took her anger out on Luz.

“If you even get me in trouble for this, you’ll regret it.”

Deciding to defend herself, Luz responded, “I did run into you, but that didn’t mean you had to push me.”

“So? What’s your point?” Amity questioned, picking up her speed towards the nurse’s office.

Luz hurried after Amity, not sure how to word what her point was, so instead she decided to apologize, “Look, I’m sorry I ran into you, okay? It was an accident. I was just trying to make it to homeroom on time before I was late and got detention. None of this should’ve happened.”

“You’re right,” Amity affirmed, “Maybe you should try being on time next time.”

Neither girl said anything after that; Luz was uncertain as to what to say and she could only assume Amity was too annoyed with her to want to talk to her. 

\--------------------------

The mood carried over into the nurse’s office as well. Amity said nothing when they got there, instead letting Luz explain everything that had happened. At the moment, the nurse was cleaning out the cuts on Luz’s arm.

“You’re lucky these aren’t that deep,” the nurse commented as she placed a bandage on the one cut, “This had the potential to be a lot worse than it is.”

“Call it a stroke of good luck?” Luz suggested, almost questioningly, avoiding looking over at Amity who she knew was probably still sporting a scowl.

“I guess you could call it that,” the nurse said, continuing to put bandages on the remaining cuts, before shifting the conversation, “I’m going to have to call your mom to tell her what happened, but from what it sounds, I should let you two get to Principal Bump’s office to get whatever happened with the trophy case sorted out. Just come back when you’re done so I can tell you what she said.”

“Okay,” Luz answered, finally looking over at Amity, “We should probably get going then. Thanks for getting my injuries all sorted out.”

“Anytime Luz,” the nurse responded, waving goodbye as Luz and Amity walked out of the office.

\--------------------------

As soon as Luz and Amity exited the nurse’s office, Luz watched as two people flanked them, recognizing them as Amity’s older siblings.

“Hey there Mittens,” Emira, who was beside Luz, greeted.

“We heard you got yourself into some trouble,” Edric added as he walked beside Amity, “And we just had to find out what had happened.”

Luz watched as Amity just started walking faster, her siblings picking up their pace as well. Not wanting to be left behind, Luz also picked up her pace after the trio, until she was back between Amity and Emira.

Edric took it upon himself, then, to place his arm on Amity’s shoulder, “Come on sis, why won’t you tell us?”

“Yeah,” Emira dragged out, “If you won’t tell us, we’ll have to ask this cutie here to fill us in on what you did.”

Luz could feel her cheeks heat up at Emira calling her a cutie, but she didn’t have a chance to respond as Amity finally spoke up.

“Shouldn’t you two be in class or something?” Amity began, looking from one twin to the other, “What happened is none of your business.”

“Someone’s feisty today,” Emira teased, proceeding to focus her attention on Luz, “So what happened?”

“Well, uh,” Luz nervously got out, shooting a glance to a scowling Amity before looking back at Emira, “It was nothing really. Just an accident on my part.”

Amity scoffed at that, “Just an accident? You ran into me, and now I’m probably going to get in trouble because of it.”

“That’s because you kinda did push me into the trophy case afterwards,” Luz voiced, instantly rambling on when Amity glared at her, “But I guess I could’ve tried to keep my balance better.”

“Oh Luz,” Edric remarked, “Don’t let dear Mittens’ glare threaten you. She doesn’t pose much of a threat past it.”

“It’s true,” Emira confirmed, as they reached the office, “But with that being said, we’ll let you two go meet with Principal Bump.”

The twins backed away at that, back down the hall, Edric calling over his shoulder, “We’ll see you at practice later, Luz!”

And then it was just Luz and Amity standing there.

“Let’s get this over with,” Amity muttered out, stepping into the main office, Luz following behind her.

The secretary in the office was quick to greet them, if rather coldly, “There you two are. Principal Bump is waiting for you in his office to go over what happened.

Both girls nodded, Luz leading the way back to the office, having been a frequent visitor to it. As Luz opened the door, she heard Amity mutter something incoherent under her breath; Luz chose to ignore it and just continued into the office, taking a seat in one of the chairs, Amity doing the same as Principal Bump watched them.

He didn’t say anything until both girls were seated, and when they were, he started to speak, “As I’m sure you two are well aware, there was an incident this morning resulting in the damage of a trophy case. To be frank, I’m not surprised you were involved Luz, but Miss Blight I am surprised by you being involved. Would either of you care to explain what happened?”

Luz looked over at Amity at that, wondering if she was going to answer Principal Bump, and when she didn’t, Luz decided to instead, “I was running late, sir, as I usually do, and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, so when I rounded the corner, I ran right into Amity.”

“I see,” was all Principal Bump said at first before observing, “But that doesn’t tell me what happened to the trophy case that is going to need to be repaired.”

It was then that Amity finally spoke up, “You see, when Luz ran into me, she lost her balance and stumbled right back into the trophy case.” 

Luz’s jaw dropped at Amity’s lie, but Principal Bump had already started speaking again.

“Is that so Amity?”

“Yes sir,” Amity confirmed, not looking in Luz’s direction.

Principal Bump directed his focus onto Luz after Amity’s response, “Do you have anything to say to the contrary, Luz?”

“No sir, not at all,” Luz responded, focusing her gaze on her hands in her lap, knowing disputing Amity would do no good since Principal Bump would never believe her over Amity.

“I’m surprised to hear you say that Luz,” Principal Bump remarked, “Because the security camera footage from that area of the school shows something completely different. In fact, it shows you being pushed by Miss Blight into the trophy case, which is behavior that we don’t tolerate here at Hexside.”

Luz could only let out a quiet “Oh,” as she peered over at Amity who had paled at the fact that she had been caught in the middle of a lie.

“Oh indeed,” Bump echoed, “While I don’t condone running through the halls Luz, I understand that you were doing it so as to not get another tardy which would’ve led to detention. Detention that you can’t afford with the first swim meet rapidly approaching and practice needing to be attended.”

Nodding Luz looked up at Bump, “That’s right, sir.”

“Yes, and it is from talking with your coach that I also understand that the team is in need of a scorekeeper at the meets,” Bump vocalized, drawing another nod from Luz, causing him to continue on with his speaking, “Which brings us back to you Miss Blight.”

“How does the swim team needing a scorekeeper apply to me?” Amity questioned, staring at Bump with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

Bump looked from Amity to Luz and then back to Amity, “It applies to you because this is your first time violating school rules, but it also came at the cost of property damage. Also, it seems like you could do with patching up your relationship with Luz here, so I think your punishment would best be served as becoming the swim team scorekeeper. It will force you two to interact and hopefully fix whatever it is that happened between you two earlier today.”

The corner of Luz’s mouth perked up at the thought of being able to fix things between her and Amity, but that hope was quickly squashed by Amity’s outburst.

“You expect me to keep score for a sport I know nothing about? That’s absurd!”

“I’m sure your siblings will help you, as well as the coaches of the swim team. Luz might even be able to help you,” Bump said before turning serious, “And there’s no debating this, unless you want me to call your parents and tell them they have to pay for the damages, as well as this going on your record. It’s your choice.”

Amity mellowed at the threat, “Being a scorekeeper sounds great actually. I can’t wait.” 

“Excellent,” Bump clapped his hands together, “Now that that is settled, you two are free to go.”

Both Amity and Luz nodded, standing up from their chairs and out of Bump’s office, past the secretary, and then finally back out into the main hallway.

Once they were out in the hallway, Amity turned to Luz and sneered, “Just so you know, we won’t be becoming friends because of this. I’m only doing this to spare myself the shame of my parents.”

With that, Amity stalked off towards her class, leaving Luz standing there in stunned silence for a few moments before she started her walk back to the nurse’s office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there is an amazing (horrible) swimming pun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! i am back with chapter two of this swimming au! i would just like to say i am not ready for the finale whatsoever and am actually kinda scared as to what will happen. anyways, enjoy!

It had been a week and a half since Luz’s run in with Amity, and she had been met with constant glares every time Amity saw her. At practice, Edric and Emira would assure her that Amity wouldn’t harm her, but as the first swim meet drew closer, Luz wasn’t so sure. However, she was sure that by the end of the swim season she would work her way onto Amity’s good side.

These were the thoughts that occupied Luz’s thoughts as she did the current set the coach had assigned them; ten fifties on a minute which was more than enough time for Luz to make it back before the next fifty started. She had just finished the seventh one when Willow spoke to her from the lane next to her.

“Luz! Remind me to talk to you after practice about our history assignment.”

Pulled out of her thoughts of how Amity was probably going to kill her at the meet tomorrow, it took Luz a second to respond, but she did, “Will do!” She had no more time to do anything next because then the coach was sending them off again.

“Okay guys, on the top.”

Luz was getting ready to swim again, then, watching the clock and as it hit the top, she streamlined off the wall, her thoughts shifting back to tomorrow. It didn’t help matters that some of Amity’s cronies happened to swim as well, and they were constantly shooting dirty looks her way at practice. Granted, they had been since the very beginning because Luz had been exceptionally good at swimming, going as far as to show up Boscha who had been a member of the local YMCA team since she was five. That was a feat in and of itself, because Boscha had been the favored upcoming top swimmer in the freshmen class with her experience, and then Luz came along and took the spotlight off of Boscha.

So if Luz got dirty looks for that, she tried not to ever pay it any attention when she did happen to notice the glares. Although since her run-in Amity, Emira had been making sure to stick by Luz’s side in the locker room, as well as Willow. That much Luz had noticed which didn’t help her fear that Amity would attempt to retaliate against her, using her friends as the means so as to not get in trouble herself. 

That was the thing with Amity Blight—or just the Blights in general—people listened to her, doing exactly as she asked, never disclosing any information that led back to Amity. Even if it did, all she had to do was mention her parents and things seemed to go away.

Except for this whole scorekeeper thing. It was the first time Luz had known Amity to accept the fact that she was in trouble, and Luz reckoned that it was probably because of the video footage that Bump had mentioned. Never once did it cross Luz’s mind that it could’ve been because Bump used the threat of Amity’s parents before Amity had a chance to. 

Regardless of whatever it was, Luz managed to make it through the rest of practice, simply going through the motions, absentmindedly listening to the coach remind them about what time to be at the pool the following afternoon for their first swim meet. She figured she would just text Willow for the time later. Or as fate would have it, as they were walking into the locker room to change.

“Luz, you seemed distracted back there as Coach was talking to us. What’s up?”

Luz could tell Willow sounded concerned, and Luz played it off, “It’s nothing, just nerves for our first ever meet tomorrow. It’s hard to believe it’s already time for it. Kind of amazing really.”

Willow studied Luz for a moment before responding, “I guess so. Amazing for you at least. You’re basically a swimming prodigy and you’re not stuck swimming the two hundred IM.”

“You’ll do great Willow!” Luz reassured, back into her ever positive attitude, “You wouldn’t be in it if you weren’t ready!”

“I guess,” Willow conceded before changing the topic, “Oh, and coach said to be ready for warmup at three-thirty tomorrow.”

“I’ll be ready way before then” Luz proclaimed, stepping in front of Willow and spinning in a circle, opening the locker room door as she finished spinning, “Glandus won’t know what hit them!” Luz offered a wide smile at Willow who was now laughing at Luz’s antics.

When she finally regained her composure, Willow responded, “We’ll definitely beat them. Then as if remembering something, Willow asked, “Did you decide what you were doing for our history paper?”

“Not at all!” Luz boasted as she walked back into the locker room, her voice echoing slightly in the hallway of the locker room. 

As the duo walked by the showers, Luz noticed Boscha staring at her, proceeding to watch as Emira said something to Boscha who immediately looked away with a scowl on her face. Luz wondered what it was that had been said, but she shook it off, opting to focus on changing so she could get home and relax for the night.

She was in the middle of changing when Emira popped up beside her.

“Hey there.”

“Hey?” Luz greeted back, taken aback by Emira’s sudden appearance.

“I’m telling you this because I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Emira paused glancing Boscha’s way, “But I would try to stay away from Boscha. I don’t know what she’s up to, but it’s not good.”

Willow spoke up at that, “It’s probably all thanks to your sister. Boscha has been sending an increasing amount of scowls Luz’s way since Amity pushed her into the trophy case.”

Emira shook her head at that, “I don’t think Mittens is behind this. From what Edric read in her diary, Amity and Boscha seem to be in some type of quarrel. Nothing like freshman drama to warm the heart.”

“I’m not scared of Boscha,” Luz stated, partly to convince herself, “And if it’s over me getting the events she wanted, I can’t help it. Coach made her decision. I can’t just say I don’t want to swim.”

“Well if you ask Boscha, that’s exactly what she thinks you should do,” Emira shrugged before reaching into her bag to grab something, “I told her to back off otherwise she’d have Edric and I to deal with, but I’m not sure that will stop her.”

Luz nodded in understanding at that, “Thank you, Emira. It’s nice to know you and Edric aren’t angry at me just because Amity is.”

Emira let out a small laugh, “I wouldn’t say she’s angry. If Edric were here he would show you how to know if she was angry. Her face gets all red and she holds her breath. It’s quite dramatic, but I guess that’s why it suits her.”

“Okay, got it,” Luz responded, repeating to herself, “Red face, bad.” Her mind thought back to every time she had seen Amity since running into her, and Luz couldn’t recall a single time Amity’s face had been red, so she saw that as a win in the context that Amity had yet to be made at her. Continuing to change, Luz smiled to herself, confident that she still had a chance at befriending Amity.

\--------------------------

Luz was walking to the pool for the meet after school with Willow when she checked her texts. She had one from her mom and then another one from her mom’s girlfriend Eda.

**Mom:** Good luck today sweetie! I’m so sorry I can’t be there for your first meet, but I’m sure you’ll crush it!

**Eda:** Good luck today kid! I’ll be rooting for you from the front bleacher!

Luz smiled at her phone, because although her mom wouldn’t be able to attend, Eda was going out of her way to be there for Luz. Looking up at Willow, she said, “You’ll never guess who’s coming to the meet tonight!”

“Who?” WIllow questioned, looking over at Luz as they continued walking.

“Eda!” Luz began, “She had told me she didn’t know if she would be able to make it the other day, but she must’ve been able to move her meetings around.”

“That’s awesome, Luz,” Willow commented as the two began to go down a short set of stairs that led to the pool doors, “Gus is going to be here too. He’s bringing his flags to cheer for us and I wouldn’t be surprised if he sat with Eda.”

“Yeah, they seem to get along,” Luz confirmed, stepping off the final step and turning left towards the pool door, locking eyes with none other than Amity Blight, whatever Luz was going to saw to Willow next, lost to the fact that Amity was there.

Amity was standing by the vending machine her siblings were currently using, her arms crossed as she waited for them to be done, but when she saw Luz and Willow, she frowned but didn’t say anything.

Luz paid no attention to the fact that Amity wasn’t saying anything instead greeting, “Hey Amity!” And when Emira and Edric looked up to see who was talking, she greeted them too, “Hey Edric and Emira!”

Edric waved, along with Emira, both of them glancing towards Amity, mild amusement and concern on their face as they waited to see if Amity would say anything.

When Amity didn’t say anything, Edric took it upon himself to speak again, “Are you two ready for your first ever meet? I know Mittens here is ready to keep track of all the points we score tonight.” As he mentioned Amity, Edric placed his left hand on her shoulder, who instantly pulled away.

“Shut up Edric,” Amity snapped, turning away from everyone, “I’m only here because I have to be.”

As Amity walked away, Emira started speaking, “Don’t mind her. She’s just in a mood.”

From over her shoulder, Amity flipped her sister off, before turning the corner, causing Luz and Willow to start giggling.

“Em, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say our dear sister gave you the bird,” Edric remarked, glancing over his shoulder, but Amity was already gone.

“She did,” Willow managed to get out when her laughing died down, “And to answer your question, I’m as ready as I can be for getting put in the IM. At least I’m on the one freelay, so that should be better.”

“You’ll crush it Willow. You’ve been working hard at practice and it’ll pay off,” Emira remarked before asking, “What about you Luz?”

“I’m ready. I’m nervous about the one hundred fly, but Viney told me it would be fine,” Luz admitted, “She told me she was terrified the first time she swam it, but it ended up not being that bad.” 

Luz was confused when Emira blushed at the mention of Viney, confused even more so when Edric nudged Emira with his elbow.

“She’s an eternal beam of optimism as I’ve heard from  _ some  _ people,” Edric began, “It’s great that she’s helping you be ready for your race.”

“Yeah!” Luz exclaimed, “She’s been really helpful. At the start of the season she helped me fix something with my technique, and now I guess that’s why I’ve gotten good at it. It’s almost like she doesn’t care that my time from the mock meet was almost faster than hers.”

“It’s probably because she wants to try and get put in the five hundred,” Willow disclosed, and when everyone looked at her, she explained, “I heard her say something about it the other day and how she really wishes she could do distance events, but with the hundred fly being so close to the five hundred, it’s hard to do.”

“I didn’t know that,” Emira frowned, muttering to herself, “I thought she would’ve told me that.”

Edric clapped his hands together at Emira’s muttering, “Okay, well, that’s enough about Viney! How about we go hit the stands until we have to warm up?”

“Sounds great!” Luz said, taking off in the direction Amity had just gone, everyone else following shortly behind.

\--------------------------

Luz had yet to go over to the scorekeeper table where Amity was. She would’ve to get the card for the two hundred medley relay, but someone else on the relay had beaten her to it. So she had opted for occasionally looking over at Amity who watched the meet with minimal interest. 

Her relay had ended up coming in second, first going to another relay from Hexside, the one Viney was on. In fact, Hexside swept the top three in the girl’s two hundred medley relay, the third relay containing Boscha as the butterfly part of the relay. 

It was the ten minute intermission currently, and Luz was pacing back and forth along the pool deck, nervous out of her mind. The one hundred fly was the first event right after intermission, and without any events going on, it was just ten minutes of anxiety being built up. 

Looking up, she saw Gus sitting beside Eda and when the two noticed her looking at them, Eda flashed a thumbs up and Gus waved his flags. Luz offered a shy smile back at them, but quickly turned around to start walking the other way. She knew she had put on this aura of being ready for the race, but she was terrified of Boscha who was swimming the one hundred fly along with Luz and Viney. She was painfully aware of the fact that if she lost to Boscha, she wouldn’t hear the end of it; and if she beat Boscha, she still would never hear the end of it. 

Luz tried to tell herself it didn’t matter, finally deciding to bury her nerves and go get her card she had to give to the timer in her lane. She did what she did best, put a smile on her face and walked over towards the table, quickly devising a clever way to greet Amity.

When she was closer to the table, Luz picked up her speed so she could ultimately slide the remaining distance towards the table, which she did. As she came to a stop in front of Amity, Luz leaned to put her one elbow on the table, greeting “Hey Amity!  Did they over chlorinate the pool today or is it you making my head spin?” Somewhere along the line, Luz came to the conclusion that the best way to get Amity to not hate her was to win her over with horrible swimming pick up lines she had learned, for there was nothing better than a pun in Luz’s mind.

This thought process didn’t seem to hold true when Amity just glared up at Luz. “I don’t know what it is you’re trying to accomplish here,” Amity said, waving her head in Luz’s direction, “But just stop. Take your card and go.”

Luz frowned, directing her gaze towards the pile of cards on the table, seeing hers on top. Picking it up she walked away, shooting one last glance over her shoulder at Amity who was staring at her. Turning to face forward once again, Luz focused her attention at the upcoming race as she walked off to lane two.

\--------------------------

Luz had managed to come in third in the one hundred fly. Someone from Glandus had managed to come in first, while Viney had come in second with Luz only a second behind her. Boscha trailed Luz by only two seconds herself, and Luz could feel the glares Boscha sent her way when she realized Luz had beaten her.

It was only three events later that Luz took part in the two hundred freestyle relay, but Viney had gotten the relay card before Luz had had a chance. The event went by quickly, Luz’s relay placing first in the race, adding more points to an already solid Hexside lead for the girls team.

Now, the meet was nearing its end, only one more event to go, the four hundred free relay. This was the only relay where Luz and Boscha happened to be on the same relay team, Emira and another student, the other two members. As the relay collected, the tension in the air was palpable, but no one called attention to it.

Instead, Emira asked, “Alright. Who wants to go get our relay card? Because it isn’t going to be me.”

At that, Luz glanced at the other two before volunteering herself, “I’ll do it.”

“Yeah, make yourself useful for once,” Boscha sneered as Luz turned to walk away.

Luz paid no attention to what Boscha had said, but as she walked away she could hear Emira yelling at Boscha. It was something about treating teammates with respect, but Luz didn’t catch it all.

This time as she approached Amity, Luz didn't say anything, she simply reached for the card that belonged to her relay and went to walk away. She stopped when Amity’s voice rang out.

“So you’ve decided to leave me alone now?”

Luz turned halfway around to respond, “It’s probably best I do.” Without a second look back, Luz walked away back towards her relay which was standing behind the block of lane four. 

“Welcome back Luz,” Emira greeted, grabbing the card out of Luz’s hand, “Okay so Azura you’re first, followed by Boscha, then me, and then Luz you’re the anchor.”

“She’s what?” Boscha questioned, ripping the card out of Emira’s hand, “This has to be a joke.”

“Boscha, the lineup was posted yesterday,” Emira stated, “You should’ve known this by now. I was just running through the order to give us a refresher.”

“Well I just assumed that Coach wouldn’t have made the foolish decision to put Luz as our anchor,” Boscha defended, “But I guess I was wrong.”

“Guys, just stop fighting,” Azura ordered, “We have to be focused on winning this meet, not bickering amongst ourselves. Boscha, just forget whatever it is you have against Luz and focus on the race or I’ll have a word with Coach. And since I’m team captain, what I say will go a long way. Even more so with Emira here since she’s next in line for captain rank, so she’ll back me up.”

Boscha paled at that, fidgeting with the goggles in her hand, “Fine. But I’m only doing this so we can solidify our win. We can’t have Glandus beating us.”

“That’s the spirit,” Azura remarked, holding out her cap, “Now someone cap me.”

\--------------------------

The relay ended up coming in first, cementing Hexside’s win against Glandus. Boscha didn’t stick around to congratulate her relaymates, instead running over to where one of the assistant coaches was to ask for the relay splits of the relay. 

Luz just shrugged as she watched Boscha go, having a strong feeling in her gut that she had swam a faster one hundred than Boscha, and the look on Boscha’s face proved she was right with that assumption.

Boscha shot daggers Luz’s way before stalking off to where Skara and a few others were standing.

“Don’t mind her,” Azura suggested, placing a hand on Luz’s shoulder, “She’s a bully and there’s no helping that. All you can do is continue being the best swimmer you can be even if it pisses her off.”

“I know,” Luz sighed, “But it gets hard sometimes knowing someone resents me so much just because I’m a better swimmer. I don’t even know how it happened, really.”

“I’d credit it to your positive attitude and determination to succeed,” a voice remarked.

Luz looked up to see Hecate, Azura’s girlfriend standing there. Luz didn’t know much about the couple, except for the rumor she had heard that the two were bitter enemies at first before being forced to work together to clean up the locker room after getting into a fight their freshmen year. Luz had no idea if the rumor was true, but she wasn’t going to question it in case it was true and it was a touchy subject among the couple. 

Instead Luz said, “Thanks. I just want to do my best.”

“And that’s all you can do,” Azura added, taking her hand off of Luz’s shoulder os she could move closer to Hecate, “Now come on Luz, we better go line up because the boys just finished their race.”

True to that statement, Luz turned to see Edric giving high fives to everyone on his relay, so Luz could only imagine they had won. Looking up at the scoreboard she could see that the girls team had won, but the boys score still needed to be updated.

It was moments later when the score updated, showing that the boys had in fact won their meet as well. A cheer erupted across the natatorium as everyone noticed the scores; Hexside had swept Glandus.

Luz worked her way towards Willow in the line, cheering, “We did it Willow!”

“We sure did,” Willow replied, starting to move forward as the two teams moved to congratulate one another.

It was a lot of saying “Good meet” later when the team gathered around the pool once again for their cooldown. Luz was pulling her goggles down over her eyes when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Amity standing there.

“Look, I’m still irate about everything, but I just wanted to congratulate you on beating Boscha, Amity began, looking anywhere but at Luz as she continued, “Her ego needed to be taken down a few notches.”

“Thanks?” Luz questioned, but Amity was already walking away, Luz staring after her as she did so.

“That was weird,” Willow vocalized from the pool, having not yet started to swim.

“Yeah, weird,” Luz echoed before shrugging her shoulders and jumping into the pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so i would just like to say that school has started up for me again and my one economics class is focused on writing a pretty big research paper so my time to write will be reduced, but never fear, i will still be back with an update as soon as i can. if i'm being honest, i'm putting a lot of my other WIPs on pause while this one is being written, because i'm really invested in this one. i'm invested in my other works, but i need to work through some plot with them before i can even think about continuing them. however! this fic has plot pretty far planned out and i have so ideas for some ~events~ that might happen in the future. regardless, find me being vague about my ideas on twitter @razzspie !


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! after reading some of the comments on the last chapter, i've realized i probably should elaborate as to what some of the words mean that i used, specifically the swimming words. it slipped my mind that not everyone did swim team, therefore they wouldn't know the slang(?) that's common in it. for this i apologize. i'll try to put the meaning of things at the start of the chapter in which they pop up in, but this note will contain anything i've used thus far and then in this chapter. so let's get this started
> 
> on the top/bottom: it's just the time you leave on for the set you're doing, the top being on the 60 and the bottom being the 30
> 
> freelay: a shortened version of freestyle relay
> 
> streamline: idk how to define this one other than it's the thing where swimmers put their hands over their head thing (i'm sorry for this one)
> 
> IM: the individual medley AKA hell. it's where you do all four strokes. for the 200IM you do each stroke for a 50, the order being fly, back, breast free
> 
> fly: a shortened word for butterfly
> 
> back: a shortened word for backstroke
> 
> breast: a shortened word for breaststroke
> 
> free: a shortened word for freestyle
> 
> mock meet: the one glorious day of practice where you simulate a meet so it's not a hard practice
> 
> medley relay: similar to the IM but it's 4 different people doing it; and the order is: back, breast, fly, free
> 
> block: the thing swimmers dive off of
> 
> anchor: the last person on the relay, usually the best swimmer so as to catch up to anyone if the relay is losing
> 
> "cap me": swimmers wear those silicon/latex cap and usually someone helps put them on so this is a common phrase
> 
> cooldown: where you're supposed to do a nice easy swim to stretch out but that no one truly ever does (oops)
> 
> dryland: literally the worst thing to exist. basically it's just workouts not done in the pool. practice is split into two part, the swimming portion and the dryland portion. the only time dryland is fun is when it's weight lifting. otherwise, it's the worst experience (so much running)
> 
> this isn't a definition but just a note: the pool is 25 yards, so a 50 would be down and back; a 100 would be down, back, down, back; and so on for the length of the race
> 
> okay that's all i can think of that i have used so far. if i missed any, just leave a comment and i'll make sure to address it in my next note! thank you so much for reading the wonderful meanings i wrote at 2am!

It was two days later on Friday in the middle of second period study hall when Luz turned to both Willow and Gus.

“What do you think the odds are of us getting out early today?” Luz questioned, gesturing towards the window where snow was rapidly falling from the sky.

Gus looked towards the window for a moment, before looking back at Luz, “I would say the odds are likely, but then again I could be wrong.”

“Nah, I think you’re right Gus,” Willow commented after looking out the window herself, “And I’m not complaining, because I sure do not want to go to practice today.”

“Why not?” Luz asked, frowning at the thought of missing practice.

“Because, Luz,” Willow began, “Coach is going to make the practice hard since it’s a Friday and we’ll have the weekend to recover before Monday’s meet. As much as I love swimming, I’m just not feeling it today.”

Gus nodded, “Makes sense. I know I wouldn’t want to be attending a hard swimming practice, knowing I had to go out into the snowy world with wet hair right afterwards.”

Luz thought about it, before responding, “But that’s what a hat is for! To keep your hair from being exposed to the cold and freezing.”

“Not all of us have short hair that can easily be covered by a hat,” Willow reminded, closing the notebook she had been writing in since the period was about to end, “But that is neither here nor there.”

Changing the topic, Gus asked, “Who do you guys even swim against on Monday?”

“Liberty Heights I think,” Luz stated, glancing towards Willow who nodded in confirmation.

“You guys should win that then. Liberty is a small school, so the team’s numbers should easily overpower their,” Gus theorized, before defending himself, “Not that I looked into the odds of you guys being able to win.”

Both Willow and Luz shook their heads at Gus as the bell rang. All three gathered their stuff when it rang, walking out of the room together, their conversation shifting to the upcoming holiday break they would be on starting next Wednesday.

“We’re totally going to have to get together for New Year’s Eve,” Willow said as they walked down the hall, “Maybe we could even invite a few other people!”

“I like the sound of that!” Gus exclaimed, turning away from the group to go a different way, “We’ll have to talk more about this at lunch!”

Both girls just nodded before Gus turned away from them, and then they were left to walk to their next class they shared together. They were just walking past the main office when they heard yelling coming from in front of them.

“What is your problem?” A voice cried out.

Luz placed the voice as Boscha’s, causing Luz to wonder what poor soul was facing Boscha’s wrath at the given moment. 

“What’s my problem?” A different voice snarled back, “You’re the one that’s been acting like an asshat for the past few weeks!”

Luz had a hard time placing whose voice it was, but as they reached the intersection of the cafeteria and the hallway her and Willow were currently walking down, Luz turned to see Amity. She recalled Emira saying how Amity and Boscha were fighting, but she was surprised to see it played out in the middle of the school as people gathered around them.

“Yeah, because you suddenly decided to be a bitch to me for no reason!” Boscha fired back, glaring at Amity.

Amity’s back was to Luz, leaving Luz with only her imagination as to what emotions were playing out across Amity’s face.

“I have not,” Amity defended, turning around and beginning to walk away, but was stopped by Boscha’s next statement.

“Oh yeah,” Boscha teased, “Run away like the wimp you are because you know I’m right! Poor Amity Blight can’t even handle the _truth_.”

Since Amity had turned around, Luz was able to see the expression that was written all over Amity’s face at Boscha’s last words. Luz wasn’t sure of every emotion being felt, but she could tell that Amity was hurt and in pain by what Boscha had said. Which is exactly how Luz came to insert herself into the whole mess, pushing through some people until she had broken through the crowd that was still waiting to see what Amity would do.

Completely disregarding the fact that Amity had a confused look on her face, Luz walked right up to Boscha and said, “Leave her alone, Boscha.”

Boscha laughed, “And who’s going to make me?”

Luz could feel her sudden burst of confidence faltering, but she continued on, “I will. Just because you’re some big hotshot, that doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk. If anything, you’re the one who can’t handle the truth.” Pausing for just a moment, Luz swallowed, knowing what she was about to say would probably end horribly, but she said it anyways, “You can’t handle the fact that I’m a better swimmer than you, so if anyone is due for a reality check, it’s you.”

As the realization of Luz’s words sank in, Boscha’s face turned from mild annoyance to downright irate, especially as everyone had dramatically gone “Ohhhh,” after Luz had called Boscha out.

Luz didn’t face the aftermath of her words though, because suddenly Amity was pulling her away from Boscha and down the hallway, Willow following closely behind them.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Amity said once they were far enough away from Boscha, whom Luz could still see standing in the same place they had left her.

“I actually agree with Amity on this one,” Willow vocalized.

Luz shook her head, having a sense of needing to keep up her brave facade, “I did the right thing. That’s what matters.”

Amity let go of Luz at that, turning to face Luz, her expression guarded, “I don’t need people to fight my battles for me, especially you. It was bad enough with the whole trophy case situation, but now you’ve gone and pissed off Boscha.”

Luz knew Amity was right about the last part pertaining to Boscha, but she wasn’t sold on the rest of it for some reason, not that she let on, simply nodding at Amity’s words, “I guess I did make Boscha pretty mad.”

“Luz!” Willow exclaimed, “You did more than make her mad! She’s going to make swimming a living hell for you now!”

“I don’t think so,” Luz admitted, “Emira and Edric have my back, and so does Azura. Boscha wouldn’t try anything knowing that.”

Amity let out a bitter laugh at that, “Then she’ll just take a page out of my book and have someone else do something to you.”

“Let her, then,” Luz challenged, maintaining a level of optimism, “I can handle myself. I’m a bad boy!”

“I don’t know about this Luz,” Willow cautioned, “Boscha is capable of anything and capable of getting away with anything.”

“Yeah, she is,” Amity confirmed, starting to walk again as the bell rang, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll take solace in the fact that it’s your funeral and not mine though.”

Luz looked over at Willow, then, who just shook her head.

“We better get to class,” was all Willow said before walking off in the same direction Amity had just gone, Luz following right after.

\--------------------------

The weather ended up getting to the point of an early dismissal which is how Luz found herself walking out to the schoolbus to go home just a little over an hour and a half later. She was getting her hat out of her bookbag when Gus came up beside her.

“I heard what happened between you and Boscha,” Gus breathed out, having obviously hurried to catch up with her as he was out of breath, “What made you stick up for Amity? I thought she still hated you.”

“She does,” Luz said, grabbing her hat and putting it on her head as she continued talking, “But that doesn’t mean I should’ve just stood by and watched Boscha be a bully. Sure, it might have been dumb, and sure, Boscha is probably plotting my untimely passing as we speak, but I did what was right.”

Gus nodded in a serious manner, “When you put it like that, I guess it makes sense. You decided doing the right thing was more beneficial than not.”

“Exactly,” Luz responded as they neared her bus, “I just have to deal with the consequences now.”

“That you do,” Gus affirmed, turning to head towards his bus, “I’ll see you Monday Luz! But I’ll text you later!”

With that, Gus was off, Luz watching him go as snow continued to rapidly fall from the sky. Turning to climb the bus stairs, Luz felt her phone go off in her pocket. Grabbing it, she read the notification as she went; it was a text from an unknown number. 

**_(878)-285-9362_** **:** _It’s Amity. I got your number off of Em, but I thought I should warn you about what Boscha is planning. From what I managed to get out of Skara, Boscha is planning to do something at one of the upcoming meets, so be cautious of that._

As she flopped down into a seat, Luz shrugged her bookbag off her shoulders, setting it beside her along with her swimming bag. She was surprised to say the least that Amity had texted her in order to warn her about Boscha, which she noted in her reply.

**_Luz:_ ** _I’m shocked you would warn me, but thank you. I appreciate it._

Turning her head to the side, Luz looked out the window at the falling snow, wondering if there was a chance Amity was beginning to not despise her existence. She didn’t think long because the response from Amity was quick.

**_(878)-285-9362:_ ** _Don’t mention it. I thought about how hard it must’ve been to stand up to Boscha like that, especially to defend me, so I thought it was the least I could do._

Luz bit her bottom lip in thought as she tried to figure out what she should reply to Amity, or if she should even reply at all. While she thought about it, she put Amity’s number into her contact list, finally deciding on a response as she did so.

**_Luz:_ ** _i_ _know i said this earlier, but it was just the right thing to do. whatever is going on between you and boscha, you didn’t deserve to be belittled in front of everyone like that. no one does._

Happy with her response, Luz sent it, and then saw she had a Remind101 message from the swim team coach. Opening the message, she groaned at what it said.

**_Coach Alberton:_ ** _I know you are all excited at practice being cancelled tonight, but make sure you try to get in a dryland workout today! We have to be prepared for our meet on Monday, and slacking tonight might hurt us! If you need an idea as to what to do, check out this video!_

Attached to the message was a link to a Youtube video that Luz didn’t click on, not wanting to think about what she would have to do tonight when she got home for swimming. She loved the swimming portion of the swim team, but she absolutely despised having to do dryland; it just wasn’t as freeing to her as being in the pool was. It was a mutual feeling amongst most of the swimmers on the team she had quickly realized, except for the few swimmers on the team that did cross country in the fall. 

Closing out of her messages, Luz clicked on Spotify as she grabbed her earbuds out of her bookbag, plugging them into her phone, then putting the earbuds in her ears. Scrolling through her playlists, she settled on the one titled _80s Hits_ . She hadn’t meant to get into 80s music, but then Eda had talked her into listening to it, and Luz was hooked on it after that. Settling into the seat as she pressed play, Luz closed her eyes as _Believe It or Not_ started playing, thinking about just how close to home the lyrics hit in reference to swimming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to apologize to all the boscah fans reading this for how i'm portraying her. she makes a good bully which is what i'm mainly in need of in this fic, so i see her staying as such. i might try to start a different fic where boscha isn't as harsh, but i'm swamped with a lot of schoolwork so i fear i might not be able to do such a thing. 
> 
> also, i'm sorry for the huge opening note, but it was needed. anyways, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter! stay tuned for the next one! i'm not sure when it'll be out because school really is kicking my butt this semester. specifically my one class where i have this huge term paper but there's a lot of assignments along the way and i have no idea what i'm doing so i'm really struggling. writing this fic is my escape though, so i do it to destress, so that's a bonus!
> 
> and finally, i saw the comments. i'm thinking about an amity pov chapter, but i'm thinking further down the line where we can see inner gay panic amity because that would be peak humor methinks. okay that's all. i really made two giant notes on this chapter :O
> 
> take care everyone! stay safe! and remember, an orange a day keeps scurvy at bay!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all wanted an amity pov, so i present to you an amity pov :3
> 
> that being said, i would like to put a TW for Amity's mom as her actions/words are quite harmful and abusive. please be wary of this and make sure to proceed with caution

“So Mittens…” Emira drew out as she turned around in the front seat to look at Amity, “How long are you going to be a total jerk to Luz?”

Amity scoffed, “Why should I be nice to her? She’s the reason I was forced to become scorekeeper.” Crossing her arms, Amity looked out the window at the falling snow, hoping that that was the end of the conversation. Talking about Luz caused a weird feeling to rise in her stomach; it was something she didn’t want to feel.

“You would’ve been at the meets anyways,” Edric reasoned, maintaining his focus on driving, “You know mom would’ve forced you to stay after school so that she wouldn’t have to worry about you.”

“That’s not the point,” Amity countered, her expression turning guarded as she continued staring out at the snow, “The point is I’m stuck doing something I don’t want to do.”

From the corner of her eye, Amity could see Emira shake her head.

“You can be so dense sometimes,” Emira began, the hint of a laugh in her voice, “Luz can’t change what happened. If anything, she’s trying to make it up to you. I mean look, she stood up to Boscha today for you.” Pausing as if remembering something, Emira continued, “Speaking of Luz, did she answer your message about Boscha yet?”

“Yeah,” Amity mumbled, clearing her throat as she finally looked at Emira, “She just thanked me for the heads up.”

Emira studied Amity for a moment before responding, “I would’ve thought Luz would’ve said more than that. She’s constantly talking in the one swim groupchat we have.”

“It’s true,” Edric agreed, “And don’t forget to mention the pictures she sends. I don’t know where she gets them, but they always fit the conversation.”

“Oh yeah! Especially that one cat one she sent last week after that one really hard practice,” Emira added, suddenly dropping the conversation she had been having with Edric as the two started talking about Luz.

Amity was glad to tune them out, deciding to scroll through her phone. Of course the first thing she noticed was Luz’s response to her last text; and, of course, it had to be extremely genuine and rather thoughtful. A string of mental curse words later, Amity sent back her response.

**_Amity:_ ** _ I guess you’re right. _

Moving out of her messages, Amity opened Twitter and started scrolling through her feed, continuing to tone out her siblings who had moved on to arguing about an assignment for one of their classes.

\--------------------------

Later that day, closer to evening, as Amity was working on geometry homework, she heard the sound of her mother’s footsteps stopping outside her door. It was seconds later when her door was being opened and her mother was walking into her room.

Looking up from her homework and at her mom, Amity acknowledged her mom, “Hello Mom.”

“Oh Amity,” her mom sighed, “Why don’t we skip the formalities and cut to the chase about what happened.”

Amity paled, wondering if her mom had somehow found out about what had happened with the trophy case, but then remembered how she had made sure Principal Bump wouldn’t tell her parents later in the day after it had happened. She knew claiming innocence would only get her further into trouble, so Amity did what she had learned to do, she feigned an idea as to what her mom was referring to, “I can explain what happened.”

“Well I should hope so,” her mom quipped, “I’d like to know why you’ve taken it upon yourself to socially ostracize yourself at school. I just got off the phone with Boscha’s mother about an incident that happened today.”

A sense of relief washed over Amity at knowing what it was her mother had learned about, but it was instantly replaced with the anxiety of how to work herself out of the situation she was in. She was grasping for words when her mother took it upon herself to continue lecturing.

“And I am absolutely appalled by the language you used towards Boscha today as well. I thought your father and I raised you better than that. Then, to make matters worse, that Noceda girl interjected herself into the whole thing and you didn’t stop her. It’s one thing to have a falling out with the daughter of one of our most important partners, but it’s another thing to not be able to stand up for yourself. Have you learned nothing about honoring the Blight family name?” 

The question hung in the air between them, Amity too taken aback to formulate a response. Amity was struggling to think of anything to say to her mother when a loud crash sounded from downstairs, instantly catching the attention of her mom. 

“This conversation isn’t over,” she directed towards Amity before walking out of the room, “But I better go see what the ruckus is about.”

Amity nodded, responding with a subdued, “Yes Mom,” as her mom walked out of her room. Amity let out a sigh of relief when she felt her mother was far enough away, and then suddenly another figure was in her bedroom door.

“Hey,” Emira spoke, moving further into the room, “Are you okay? Ed and I overheard what mom was saying.”

Not answering the question, Amity responded with a question of her own, “I take it Ed went and knocked something over downstairs?”

“Oh no,” Emira shook her head, “You are not dodging the question. I’ll answer yours when you tell me if you’re okay.” As she finished speaking, she worked her way to Amity’s bed, where she sat down, waiting for Amity’s response.

“I’m fine,” Amity answered, firing off her response in a tone that was all too practiced, before continuing, “She’ll drop it soon enough whenever I apologize to Boscha or whatever.”

Once again, Emira studied Amity’s expression before she inquired, “Do you even want to apologize to Boscha?”

“Does it matter?” Amity shot back quickly, sighing as she realized she answered Emira with a question again. Correcting herself, she said, “It doesn’t matter what I want. Mom wants me—I mean us—to maintain certain images, and I blemished mine. I have to fix it.”

Emira picked up on Amity’s slight misstep, commenting, “Ed and I know mom holds you to a higher standard than us. You don’t have to act like it isn’t a thing. I mean, we would have to be blind not to see how you have to hang out with all the people that hand-picked for you to be friends with, and then Ed and I are hanging out with people they would never approve of you being around.” Emira paused in a thoughtful silence for a beat before adding, “Like Luz for example. She knows we hang out with Luz, but she only chastises you for it. It isn’t right what she does and dad just goes along with it.”

Amity stared at her sister, mouth slightly agape at how honest Emira was being. Usually, they didn’t talk this truthfully with one another, but it was like something had shifted between them, and Amity questioned it, “Why are you telling me this?”

“No reason,” Emira shrugged, “Just thought it was a long overdue conversation.” Changing the topic to what it had been prior, Emira said, “And for the record, it does matter what you want. If you don’t want to hang out with Boscha, you shouldn’t have to, and I honestly don’t blame you for not wanting to.”

“I would be an outcast then,” Amity remarked, “I don’t have any friends past the ones our parents decided I should have. As much fun as being the net Hexside social pariah sounds, I’d rather have fake friends.”

“Amity, I’m going to say this in the nicest way possible,” Emira began, running a hand through her hair, “Drop your whole deal with Luz. She is more than willing to be your friend, and I know somewhere beneath your whole suit or armor, there’s a part of you that wants to be her friend.”

Taking a moment to process Emira’s words, Amity thought about what it would be like to be friends with people who weren’t full of themselves and only focused on bullying others. Sure, Amity knew she had done her fair share of taking part in it over the years, and she knew there was no excuse for it, but it always bothered her deep down. Maybe, just maybe, taking Emira’s advice would be her second chance to make up for all the harm she had caused over the years.

There was only one problem, which she quickly voiced, “Luz’s best friend is Willow, though, and we both know what happened there. I doubt she would even let me try to become friends with Luz” 

Emira nodded, “You have a point there, but you could try apologizing to Willow. Explain to her what happened, and if you need backup, Ed and I will be there to support you. In the end, all you can do is try to make things right, even if it doesn't mean you’ll be forgiven.”

“I know you’re right,” Amity conceded, leaning back against her desk, “But that doesn’t make it any less scary.”

“Tell you what. How about I text Willow and tell her that you want to talk to her on Monday at the meet?” Emira suggested, a mischievous look forming its way onto her face, “And while I do that, how about you text Luz—since you already have her number—and start up a conversation with her. In fact, I think you both like that same book series. The one I know you want to talk to someone else about, but you never say so.”

Amity was surprised her sister knew how she felt about the book series, but she shrugged it off, instead asking, “Luz likes the  _ Delirium Trilogy _ ?”

“That’s it!” Emira exclaimed, “Those are the very books.” Standing up from the bed, she continued, “Now that that is taken care of, I better go text Willow.”

Narrowing her eyes at Emira suspiciously all of the sudden, Amity questioned, “Are you and Ed up to something I don’t know about?”

“For once we aren’t,” Emira admitted, “Unless you consider the fact that we’re tired of seeing you miserable as being up to something.”

Amity rolled her eyes, “Well thanks I guess.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Emira answered, moving towards the door, before throwing one last thing over her shoulder, “And if mom gets on your case, don’t worry about it. Ed and I have the perfect surprise disruption.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Amity inquired before Emira had a chance to walk away.

Emira laughed, “Oh Mittens, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore. Just know your favorite siblings are going to be taking a stand for you.”

Emira walked away then, but not without Amity calling after her, “Well you two are my only siblings so.”

With Emira gone, Amity turned her attention back to her homework; and without the distraction of talking with her sister, Amity could hear her mother’s muffled yelling which she could only assume was directed towards Edric. She was thankful he had been willing to suffer the outcome of whatever it was he had done, but she also felt bad about it. Their mother’s tirades were horrible across the board, albeit Amity knowing hers were just slightly more harsh.

Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her thoughts, and picking it up, she saw she had a notification from Snapchat. Unlocking it, Amity opened the app to see that she had a request from Willow, causing her to panic about what Emira could’ve said. However, Amity pushed that panic aside and accepted the request, proceeding to wait and see what Willow would want.

In the meantime, Amity figured she should make good on what she told Emira she would do, so Amity opened her texting app, opening her message history with Luz. She wasn’t sure what to say at first; there was no teenage guide to say how to initiate conversation with someone. Ruling out the idea of bringing up the book trilogy yet, Amity went for a more truthful message.

**_Amity:_ ** _ Hey Luz. I’ve been thinking about things, and I’ve realized that I’ve been a jerk to you for no reason. I know you didn’t mean to run into me, but I meant to push you, and that wasn’t okay. I wanted to apologize for the harm I caused you, and I also wanted to apologize for treating you like crap since. You didn’t deserve it at all. _

Amity’s finger hovered over the send button, debating whether or not it was good enough to send. Taking a deep breath, she told herself it was a good message and pressed send right as she got a notification of a Snapchat message from Willow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want you all to know i wrote this in one sitting, so this might be the one piece of writing that flows the best because it was written with the same mindset the whole way through. also i suppose with the way i ended the chapter it sets up for a second amity pov chapter, hm. we shall have to see. anyways, i hope this amity pov lived up to what you friends were expecting! i plan on doing more in the future of this fic for sure, so don't worry, there will be ones where there are no blight parents because they're poopheads. take care everyone! make sure to stay hydrated, and make sure to rest!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all are getting another amity pov chapter, enjoy!
> 
> TW // parental abuse , verbal abuse , bullying
> 
> please be wary of this mes amis! amity's parents are not good people, and they are being portrayed as such

She was panicking, internally of course, but panicking nonetheless. It was just a stupid notification that she had a message, but it was still stress-inducing. 

Amity reasoned that she was overreacting as she got up from her desk and flopped on the bed. Of course she was; it was something she was a pro at, having dealt with her mother’s constant criticism. That didn’t change matters, however as Amity squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to bring herself to open Willow’s message.

Letting out a loud sigh, Amity opened her eyes and clicked on the notification, effectively opening the message.

**_Willow:_ ** _ Amity, why do you want to talk to me at the meet on Monday? _

Relieved that Willow didn’t seem outright angry with her, Amity laughed to herself at how worried she had been as she typed and sent back her response.

**_Amity:_ ** _ It’s important, but I think it’s best if I tell you in person. I owe you that much. _

She was well aware that she owed Willow more than the explanation she had to offer, but the explanation was all she had. Setting her phone down on the bed beside her, Amity thought back to the day she had cut Willow out of her life.

\--------------------------

_ To say Amity Blight and Willow Park were inseparable would be an understatement. Willow was Amity’s best friend and vice versa. The duo was constantly hanging out when they could, ever since meeting in preschool. It was the first time Amity had established a genuine connection with someone that wasn’t family. _

_ She cherished her friendship with Willow more than anything at the young age of six, but then on her seventh birthday, everything came crashing down for Amity. _

_ Amity had been in her room getting ready for her party when her mother came in. _

_ “Amity dear,” her mother had greeted, walking towards the chair Amity was seated on, placing her hands on the back of it as she looked down at her youngest child, “I see Willow was invited to your party.” _

_ Peering up at her mother from the chair, Amity chirped back, “Yeah! Her and I are going to have so much fun today. Her and I had this awesome idea for a game!” _

_ Lifting a hand and waving it in a dismissive manner, her mother spoke, “You have to send her away when she gets here, and make sure to tell her you don’t want to be friends with her anymore.” _

_ “But why would I do that?” Amity questioned, frowning as she thought about how lying was wrong, “She’s my best friend!” _

_ “Not anymore,” Amity’s mother corrected, clearing her throat, “You don’t understand it now, but one of her fathers is on the city council and is adamantly opposing our new plant we want to open for the family business. I can’t have you associating with the enemy. It would destroy our image.” _

_ “I don’t understand,” Amity said, truly at a loss for words as to what was going on. _

_ Her mom scoffed,”Of course you don’t. Just another reason you disappoint me. However, if you want to change that, all you have to do is destroy your friendship with Willow. There are plenty of other people to befriend that are supporters of our business.” _

_ Amity was just a child. A child seeking the love and compassion a child should receive from their parents, so she agreed, “Okay, I’ll do it.” _

_ Her mother simply nodded and left the room, leaving behind a still confused Amity who only knew she had to destroy the one good thing in her life. _

_ And she did. Amity effectively destroyed her friendship with Willow that day, thus the beginning of when Amity started guarding her feelings more and more as she watched a sobbing Willow run away from her house back to her dads. _

\--------------------------

Amity jumped when she felt her phone vibrate, pulled out of her memories from her seventh birthday. Picking her phone up, she saw Willow had responded. Tapping on the notification, she once more opened the message, only to see Willow was still typing out messages, so Amity layed there are multiple messages came through.

**_Willow:_ ** _ That didn’t answer my question. Why are you just now wanting to talk to me in a way that isn’t mean? _

**_Willow:_ ** _ And why couldn’t you do it yourself? Why did Emira have to be the one to message me?  _

**_Willow:_ ** _ All she said was that you wanted to talk to me on Monday, and then said to just give you a chance to do so. So why should I give you a chance? _

Gathering her thoughts, Amity flipped over so she was laying on her stomach, feet dangling off the bed as she typed out a response.

**_Amity:_ ** _ Because I never should’ve treated you the way I did to begin with, and I want to apologize to you for it and explain. And Emira offered to talk to you, and I didn’t decline the offer.  _

Sending that message, Amity quickly typed out and sent another, her tongue sticking out of her mouth ever so slightly in concentration as she did so.

**_Amity:_ ** _ I really don’t deserve a chance to explain everything to you. I know I hurt you that day, and I’ve hurt you since, but I’m done. I just want you to know why everything happened. If anything, it might bring you some type of closure. _

Closing out of Snapchat, Amity threw her phone down beside her on the bed, proceeding to bury her head in her hands.

“There’s no going back now,” Amity said, the words muffled from being said into hands.

\--------------------------

Somehow Amity had managed to make it the rest of the weekend without her mother returning to chastise her for her confrontation with Boscha. This was something she was extremely grateful for, although she had a suspicion it was thanks to her siblings’ mischievous ways that their mother had left her alone.

She was also thankful for the fact Willow agreed to hear her out about everything on the bus ride to the swim meet, as the meet was at Liberty Heights, which was about an hour away from Hexside. 

Then there was her on and off conversation with Luz throughout the weekend. Luz had accepted her apology without so much as a hesitation that Amity was able to perceive, and had in fact even started getting to know each other a little bit more. Amity learned that Luz had only gotten into swimming because her mom recommended she join a sport, but now she loved it more than anything. In turn, Amity told Luz how she was fond of baking when she had the chance. What she didn’t share was that her mother criticized her for wasting her time on such a trivial task when the professional chefs could just bake what she was trying to.

None of that mattered now, however, as Amity was currently on her way to the bus that would be taking the team to the meet. She could hear Boscha talking to Skara behind her in the hallway, only making Amity pick up her pace even more, not wanting to have to endure an interaction with Boscha. Her mind was focused on getting on the bus and sitting in the seat beside Willow so she could explain everything to Willow. 

Amity would be lying if she said she hadn’t spent all weekend worrying about how she was going to say what she wanted to Willow. There wasn’t exactly a rulebook for how to talk to someone you treated like shit for seven years. Regardless of that fact, Amity calmed her rapid heart rate as she approached the school lobby where all the swimmers currently were.

Her siblings were the first ones to come towards her.

“Mittens, there you are,” Emira greeted, wrapping an arm around Amity, “Just wanted to let you know, we’ll be sitting behind you for support.”

“Yeah!” Edric agreed, “Emira told me what was up. I’m proud of you for doing the right thing.”

Amity smiled weakly at the compliment, not knowing what to say, instead letting Emira continue the conversation.

“We know it isn’t easy what you’re doing,” Emira began, squeezing Amity even tighter, “But you’ll feel better once you do.”

“And if anything, this will be your first act of defiance against mom,” Edric added, giving Amity a thumbs up.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Amity responded, “I guess so. It’s still nerve wracking to think about.”

“What’s nerve wracking?” Luz answered, suddenly popping up in front of Amity, an indifferent Willow not far behind her.

“Oh nothing,” Emira lied, “Mittens here is just worried she’ll mess up her math tonight calculating points.”

Luz nodded seriously at what Emira said, going as far as to ask Amity, “Do you need a calculator? I have one I think. At least I should.” Pulling her backpack of her shoulder, Luz began rooting through it.

Amity shook her head in mild amusement at what was unfolding before her. She had quickly realized that Luz wasn’t at all what she had initially thought. If there was one thing she understood already, it was how sincere Luz was, which is how Amity found herself saying, “It’s fine, Luz. Really. I have the calculator app on my phone. It’ll be fine.” Glancing at Willow, Amity noticed how she seemed to be studying Amity, an unreadable expression on her face.

As soon as Willow noticed Amity staring at her, she focused her gaze on Luz, saying, “The bus just pulled up, we should probably go get our seats.

“Okay, okay,” Luz answered, closing her bookbag and slinging it back over her shoulder as she stood back up, turning to Amity and the twins asking, “Do you guys want to sit by us?”

“Duh, of course we would,” Edric responded, moving towards the school door, “Onward to Liberty Heights!”   
  


Amity felt Emira’s grip on her loosen and she was thankful for that, proceeding to look at Emira and say, “I guess it’s time to go.”

Emira just smiled at her before walking away, Willow and Luz right behind her, Amity quick to follow.

\--------------------------

The bus ride started out simple enough, coaches passing out bagged meals for everyone as well as the meet lineups for everyone to look at. That took up the first ten minutes of the bus ride, as everyone was abuzz about their events. Amity, her siblings, Willow, and Luz had chosen seats towards the back of the bus, so it took awhile for the lineups to reach them; Amity nervously playing with her hands the entire time as she prepared for what she was about to say.

She was in a seat by herself, meaning her siblings piled their bags onto the empty spot beside her so that they could have more room. She paid no heed to the pile of bags beside her, instead looking at Willow when the lineups had finally been passed along to the next person. It took her a few moments to find her voice, and even when she did, her voice was shaky, “Willow….can we, can we, uh, talk now?”

Willow tensed when Amity first addressed her, and Amity inwardly noted just how much she had hurt Willow. She had been blind to it all those years, hiding under her guise of indifference to what she was doing. And for a brief moment, Amity realized what exactly Lauren Oliver had meant when she said that hate wasn’t the most dangerous thing, indifference was. But then Willow was answering her, and any thoughts of books went out of her head.

“I guess so,” was Willow’s answer, carefully guarded and curt.

Luz, who was beside Willow and against the window, looked from Willow to Amity, “Would it be easier if I switched spots with you Amity? That way you and Willow can talk easier?”

Willow was the one to answer, “That won’t be necessary Luz. Amity can talk to me from across the aisle.”

“Hm, okay,” Luz answered, turning her attention to her phone where she started typing something out.

“So what does the great Amity Blight want to say to me?” Willow questioned, waving her hands for emphasis as she spoke.

Just last week Amity would’ve probably had some insult to hurl Willow’s way for talking to her that way, but today she had nothing. Today she recognized she deserved the disdain from Willow after years of torment. Clearing her throat, Amity began, “I wanted to apologize….for everything. Everything I’ve done and said to you since my seventh birthday. I was a total asshole to you when it wasn’t warranted at all. You were my best friend and I destroyed it for what seemed like no reason.”

“Because it was for no reason,” Willow interjected, a scowl on her face as she stared at Amity.

“Well, yeah, for you it would’ve looked like no reason, but there was a reason,” Amity countered, drawing in a deep breath as she glanced over the seat at her siblings who both flashed her an encouraging smile, so she continued, “I never wanted our friendship to end. I can vividly recall telling my mother how excited I was for you to come because we were going to play a new game. I told her that and she said I had to destroy our friendship because of your dad opposing something with their business. And I could’ve refused to do it, but I didn’t. I was a kid who just wanted to be loved by a parent, so I did what she asked, and then I did it almost every day since then until it just became routine. I didn’t have to keep being mean to you all these years, I know this and I regret it. I’m truly sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you.”

Amity could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she finished speaking, so she looked towards the bus floor, refusing to meet Willow’s gaze for fear of what she would see.

Willow didn’t say anything at first, and neither did Luz or her siblings. It was just the noise of everyone else carrying on around them as this serious moment around them. 

Towards the front of the bus she could hear someone that sounded very much like Boscha bragging about how good she was going to do tonight, while someone else complained about having to swim the five hundred freestyle. 

These were the things Amity picked up on as she waited for Willow’s response. It was soon after that that Willow finally said something. 

“Why now?”

Amity looked up, confusion on her face as she asked, “Why now what?” She couldn’t figure out what exactly Willow was feeling but there didn’t seem to be the same hostility that had been there before; it seemed more subdued. 

“What made you decide to finally tell me this and apologize?” Willow clarified, maintaining her gaze on Amity. 

“Maybe it was a change of heart,” Luz suggested, looking up from her phone, “Some grandiose redemption arc of sorts like if we were in a fanfic.”

“Luz,” Emira cautioned, “I don’t think now is the time.”

“Right. Sorry.” Luz apologized, pulling the hat on her head further down to cover her eyes. 

If Amity wasn’t in the midst of her deep conversation with Willow, she would’ve found the action funny, but instead she was busy answering Willow’s question, “Em gave me a reality check. She said certain things that really resonated with me.” Amity’s gaze flicked to Luz for a moment before focusing back on Willow as she continued, “Made me realize that I don’t have to be my mother’s puppet, and that I genuinely want to be a better person.”

Willow studied her for a few seconds, not saying anything. To Amity, these seconds felt like an eternity, but then Willow finally spoke.

“I can’t say I forgive you yet,” Willow began, her voice steady, “But it’s a start.”

Amity just nodded, not having anything to say in response, plus she could feel a tightening in her throat as she held back tears once again. It was the first time in years that she was letting her walls down, and a lot of emotions were hitting her at once. A lot of repressed emotions she had buried for far too long that were threatening to spill over, but taking a deep breath, Amity collected herself, forcing the lid back on her emotions because the swim team bus was not the place she wanted to experience all those emotions.

Meanwhile, Luz looked like she wanted to say something, her hat now placed back on her head how it had been before, but she didn’t say anything. Luz simply chewed on her bottom lip as she looked at Amity before going back on her phone and looked to be typing something.

From behind her, Amity felt one of her siblings place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze in a reassuring manner. Turning, she saw it was Edric, who for once in his life looked serious.

“That took guts Mittens. I’m proud of you,” was all Edric said before he pulled his hand back, flopping against the back of his seat.

Amity looked back at Willow, a nervous laugh escaping her mouth, “I guess this wasn’t really the most motivational conversation to have before a meet.”

“Not at all,” Willow confirmed before adding, “But I’m glad we had it.”

“Yeah, me too,” Amity said, her voice thoughtful. Shifting in her seat, she moved to look out the window. As she did so, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw a text from Luz.

**_Luz:_ ** _ hey, i don’t know what exactly emira said to you that made you decide to apologize to willow, but i’m glad she said whatever it was. willow never talked about what happened between you two, but i think it’s because of how much it hurt not knowing why things played out the way they did. and i know you just started to be nice to me (which i’m thankful for), but if you ever need to talk to someone about your mom, i’m all ears. sometimes it’s good to get it out by talking. at least that’s what works for me. _

Another text quickly followed the first one.

**_Luz:_ ** _ i don’t want to overstep more than i probably already have, but why are you suddenly being nice to me? i don’t mind, it’s just that it usually only happens right before someone does something to embarrass me. _

Amity looked up from her phone over at Luz who was watching her with an intent look on her face. Of course she hadn’t thought about what Luz would think pertaining to her sudden one-eighty in demeanor, and she should’ve realized the negative experiences Luz would’ve had in these situations. Amity had been present, after all, to the last time it had happened in middle school when some kid had managed to lock Luz in her locker. She was there as the janitor had to come let Luz out of the locker, and she had been there as the principal asked if anyone knew how it had happened. No one turned the kid in. Amity knew who it had been, but she hadn’t said anything, and now she regretted it more than anything. Managing a smile at Luz, Amity sent a text back.

**_Amity:_ ** _ Shit, I’m sorry about that. I promise that’s not why I’m being nice to you. I just thought about it long and hard, and I realized we can’t change what happened between us, but we can grow from it. And however it is we grow from it, whether we just be cordial with one another or friends, I’d respect either one. _

Amity looked back over at Luz as soon as she sent it, studying her for any type of reaction at the message she had sent. A more genuine smile worked its way onto her face when she saw how Luz seemed to relax as she read the message, and moments later, Amity felt her phone vibrate in her hands. Looking down, she read the message.

**_Luz:_ ** _ it’s fine! it was just something i had been thinking about. also, if you’re serious, being friends would be totally epic! _

Amity let out a small chuckle at Luz’s eagerness to be friends, looking back up at Luz and flashing her a thumbs up, a confused Willow looking from Luz to Amity.

“So you two are cool now?” Willow asked, clarifying further, “Because literally three days ago I wouldn’t have been surprised if you pushed her down a flight of stairs.”

“That’s a, uh, very exact scenario Willow,” Emira commented, her head popping up in the aisle so she could be a part of the conversation, “And to take the spotlight away from Mittens, I think they’re cool now. I told her to quit being an ass and to think about what she wanted, which might’ve led to her realizing she needed to mend some bridges in the process.”

Pushing Emira’s face back, Amity hesitantly spoke, “I- uh, it’s true. I realized I didn’t want to be some bully that made everyone’s life a living hell.” Amity grimaced when Emira licked her hand, “Ew! You know I hate that!”

“Don’t put your hand on my face then,” Emira shrugged, moving her head away from Amity’s hand.

  
  


Luz spoke up then, declaring, “Now that is called some excellent character growth! Recognizing your buildup of wrongs and trying to correct them.”

Willow facepalmed at that, getting out between laughs, “Luz, your timing can be so horrible that it’s almost perfect.”

“I can’t help my awesomeness,” Luz remarked, pausing before adding, “You guys just have to deal with it whether you like it or not.”

Everyone laughed at that, the atmosphere surprisingly light in comparison to what it had been minutes before. And for the first time in a long time, Amity felt as if her laughter was genuine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl, i have no clue how this chapter got so many words. it was at like 600 and then suddenly i was way over 3k. i hope you enjoyed! next chapter is back to luz, and we'll see how the meet unfolds! until then, take care everyone!! make sure to drink some water and get some rest! and in case you need to hear it, y'all are so so cool and deserve the world!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> featuring another horrible swimming pun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg hello hello. i am so sorry it has taken this long to get an update out. i've been collecting data for my econometrics paper and working on the rough draft of said paper and i haven't had as much time to work on this fic. even as i wrote this chapter i really didn't, but it was time for an update. also i'm strangely really descriptive at one point in this chapter, and by that i mean i just use more description than i usually ever do. i guess i am just trying to work on my abilities as a writer, and my descriptions are where i need a lot of work. anyways, enjoy!

Luz was certain the bus ride had gone well. At least as well as Amity exposing the horrors of her mother could go. Of course, Luz knew this didn’t completely excuse Amity for her actions, but ever since Friday night when Amity had texted her, Luz had come to the conclusion that Amity wasn’t a bad person. A little misguided perhaps, but it appeared to Luz that Amity was trying to right that misguidance. 

“Luz, are you going to stand there all day, or are you actually going to do your warmup?” Coach Albert’s voice rang out, pulling Luz out of her thoughts, while also earning a snicker out of Boscha who was waiting for the people in front of her to go. This quickly earned a reprimand from the coach as well, “Boscha, enough of that, or I’ll pull you from your events.”

Luz did not miss the death glare Boscha sent her way, but she tried to ignore it, deciding to focus on responding to the coach, “I’m getting in, don’t worry coach.” 

Coach Albert just nodded at Luz before walking away to talk to the assistant coaches. 

Looking back towards the pool, Luz studied her reflection in the water before diving in from the side since everyone else from her lane was in the midst of swimming. As she hit the water, she felt the cold seep into her body, and she made a mental note to remember just how cold this water was for when they returned for a swim invitational sometime after Winter Break. The cold helped her focus though, at least that was how it seemed, because she quickly got going on her warmup, her thoughts drifting back to the bus ride to Liberty Heights.

\--------------------------

The team’s warmup was coming to an end; they only had one part left which was their starts. However, the Hexside swim team had a tradition before every meet and Luz watched as several upperclassmen, mostly seniors, got up on the blocks, turning to face all the swimmers surrounding them. 

Azura was on the first block, followed by Hecate on the second one, then Barcus on the third one, Eileen on the fourth one, Jerbo on the fifth block, and then Emira on the sixth block. Emira was the only non-senior to be up there, and Luz assumed it was because Emira was the expected captain for next year after Azura graduated. 

As Luz looked up at everyone on the blocks, she watched as all six of them started clapping. The clapping started out slow, everyone else on the pool deck starting to join in. Glancing over at the Liberty Heights team, Luz saw the small group of swimmers from the school watching them intently, but then Luz was back to focusing on clapping. 

The clapping quickly grew faster until reaching its max speed when Azura’s voice yelled out, “Give me a C!”

All the swimmers yelled back, “C!”

Hecate was next to follow, “Give me an O!”

Everyone called out “O!”

Barcus’ voice rang out then, “Give me a M!”

Once again, everyone responded, the clapping keeping up its speed, “M!”

Eileen was next, “Give me an E!”

“E!” Everyone’s voice called back.

“Give me a T!” Jerbo quickly called out as the clapping continued, his voice barely audible over it.

Everyone yelled back, “T!”

Emira was last to go, calling out, “Give me an S!”

And for the final time, everyone responded with a letter, “S!”

Azura once more took charge from the first block, “What does that spell?”

“COMETS!” was the overwhelming yelled response as the clapping fizzled out, the swimmers on the block turning to face back towards the pool.

Coach Albert cleared her throat then, a smile on her face, “Swimmers take your mark.”   
  


All six swimmers got ready on the block, and when Coach Albert was sure of it, she spoke again, “Go!”

The swimmers on the block quickly launched off of the blocks and into the water, the next set of swimmers quickly scrambling up onto the blocks as the coach sent them moments later. 

Luz turned to see that Boscha was in the lane beside her, and she quickly tried to direct her gaze elsewhere, but it was too late. Boscha had noticed her looking and Luz internally cursed as an evil smirk appeared on Boscha’s face.

“Just so you know, you can’t be top freshman forever,” Boscha threatened, “And I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. Surely  _ accidents  _ do happen.”

Boscha turned away after that, leaving Luz standing in line behind her block, completely speechless, just barely managing to get up on the block when it was her turn to dive.

Had Luz looked behind her, she would’ve seen an angry Amity staring at Boscha from the scorekeepers table.

\--------------------------

Luz’s two hundred medley relay was the same as the first meet; she was still on the second best relay swimming the fly portion of the event. This time, however, her relaymates sent her to get their relay card, and she was content to oblige, walking over to the table. She reasoned, if anything, the walk might do something for her nerves which were still on edge from Boscha’s threat from warm-up.

Walking over to the scorekeeper table, Luz was lost in her thoughts until Amity spoke to her.

“Luz, what did Boscha say to you before you did your practice starts?”

Amity’s voice hadn’t been demanding, in fact, it was surprisingly soft, but it still made Luz jump nonetheless. Directing her gaze towards the piles of square papers on the table, Luz avoided eye contact, “It was nothing. Just something about the meet.”

“Luz,” Amity sighed, falling silent until Luz finally chanced a glance up at her, to find Amity staring at her, which is when Amity continued speaking, “I just watched you pace for almost half an hour after it. Not to mention, your start was horrendous compared to your ones from the first meet.”

“I’m just nervous about the meet,” Luz defended, trying to deflect by asking, “Plus, how do you know my start was bad?” She was aware of how horrid her start had been, in fact she knew she would probably feel the pain from it in the morning, but Amity recognizing how horrid it was caught her off guard.

Amity didn’t say anything at first, but eventually responded, “We’re not talking about me. Maybe another day I’ll answer that, but not now. For now, though, you better get back to your relay, the meet is about to start. Just know this conversation isn’t over.”

Luz was left with more questions than answers as she just nodded and headed back towards block number two, card in hand, not remembering when she had actually picked it up. It didn’t matter though, because as soon as she got near the block, Celine was bringing her into the conversation.

“Oh good, you’re back,” Celine greeted, “Now you can side with me to tell these two losers that writing fanfiction is an excellent form of creative outlet for people.”

“We never said it wasn’t!” Amelia exclaimed as she put her face in her hand, “We just said it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.”

Luz wasn’t much in the mood for getting in the middle of the discussion, albeit she was surprised by the fact that Celine wrote fanfiction, but she still inputted her opinion, “Personally, writing fanfic is actually and excellent way to get out my repressed feelings, so whatever the argument here is, just know I’m on the side that supports it as a good thing.”

“It is a good thing,” Alera remarked, “And if Celine would’ve given me time to actually build upon what I had said prior, she would’ve heard me say that I too write fanfiction.”

“Ladies,” the timer in their lane interrupted, “As much as I love listening to your debate right now, the meet is about to start.”

As soon as the words were out of the timer’s mouth, the referee was blowing their whistle, and everyone was in race mode, Celine quick to get in the water to get ready for her backstroke start.

Silence fell upon the pool deck after the whistle, the other referee proceeding to speak.

“Swimmers, place your feet.”

A slight pause.

“Take your mark.”

There was another pause, before the loud ‘beep’ sounded, and the event was underway; the cheering quick to pick up in the natatorium. 

Luz still didn’t quite understand the point of cheering in swimming, it’s not like you could hear anything when you were under the water, only able to hear for the quick breaths that you take, but she cheered nonetheless. If anything, it gave her a sense of belonging that she desperately had needed, and it was fun to see all the ways people would cheer.

Celine was on her way back, and Amelia was climbing up on the block for the breaststroke portion of the event. 

The Hexside relay in lane four had just started their breaststroke leg of the relay, Emira in the water, and Luz listened as every time Emira’s head came above water each stroke, the coaches and her relay mates cheered, “Go!”

Luz focused her attention back on her lane just in time to watch Amelia dive into the water, moving closer to the block since she would be up next. Her nerves were finally starting to grow, just like they had before her events in the first meet. She cheered on Celine nonetheless as she moved to grab her cap and goggles from where they were tucked in her swimsuit. 

Turning to Alera, she held her cap out, “Can you cap me?”

Alera just nodded, quickly pulling the latex cap over Luz’s head, before continuing to cheer on Amelia who was making her turn at the other end of the pool. 

Luz looked out over the pool once again, nervously placing a foot on the first step of the block. Looking down at her goggles, she lifted them and placed them on her head, the bungee cord ensuring their tightness, for Luz didn’t want them popping off when she dove in. 

As Amelia approached the halfway mark, Luz climbed the rest of the way up onto the block, pulling her goggles down over her eyes now, pushing the lenses on with the palm of her hand as hard as she could. She did this multiple times, and once she was satisfied, she saw Amelia was passing the flags now. 

All Luz could do right now was take a deep breath and ready herself on the back edge of the block, waiting until Amelia took her final stroke. 

It was as Amelia began her final stroke that Luz began moving, stepping forward towards the front of the block, pushing off the block, her feet leaving the block as Amelia’s hands touched the wall. 

The transition was seamless, much like how they had practiced every time they worked on starts during practice. The cold water was a shock, but one she was prepared for as she streamlined through the water off her dive. As she neared the surface of the water, she prepared to take her first stroke, pulling her arms down in front of her in order to get the motion needed for fly. 

Seconds later, Luz was getting in the rhythm of the stroke, her arm movement and kicks working in tandem to propel her through the water, trying hard to breathe every three strokes. She could hear the muffled sounds of cheering when her head was underwater, and as she approached the wall, she could hear someone pounding on the pool deck, although she wasn’t sure what lane that was coming from. Nonetheless, she took one last breath as she swam closer to the wall, taking one more stroke after that before both hands were making contact with the wall, pulling herself up and turning so she could push off and swim back. It was during her turn that for a brief second she saw she had somehow gotten ahead of Viney, but the recognition of that fact was out of her head as soon as she pushed off the wall. 

As she sprinted back, Luz could feel her arms getting tired, and a part of her recognized that she might have gone too hard in this event, for a reason she couldn’t place at that exact moment. She just focused on swimming and making sure her stroke stayed legal, and as she swam past the flags, she exerted a final boost of energy to finish her leg of the relay, both hands hitting the wall, her head popping up out of the water as she heard Alera splash down in the water behind her. Glancing towards lane four, she saw Viney just making it back to the wall, and then further away in lane six, she watched as Boscha hit the touchpad a few seconds later.

Luz pulled herself out of the pool after that, a few seconds going by before she realized her relaymates were talking to her, “Sorry, what was that?” Luz asked as she pulled her goggles and cap off her head, tucking a part of them back up under her swimsuit so they wouldn’t get lost.

“We were just saying how totally awesome that was!” Amelia cheered.

“Yeah!” Celine added, “You were on fire out there! You made up a lot of ground.”

“I guess I did,” Luz said, blinking a few times before turning back to look out over the pool to see Alera maintaining their lead, “And it looks like we might pull it off.” 

Both Amelia and Celine stared at Luz, caught off guard by the lack of excitement that was usually present in Luz’s voice. 

It was Amelia who questioned it, “Is everything alright Luz?”

Luz was quick to answer, inserting what she hoped was a believable optimism, “Yeah! Just winded from swimming. Come on, let’s cheer Alera on!”

Her two relaymates just smiled and moved closer to the block, making sure to take Luz with them as all three started cheering for Alera who was doing her flip turn at the other end of the pool. 

As Luz cheered, she glanced over at the other lanes, making direct eye contact with Boscha who had been glaring at her. Luz’s cheer died in her throat as she broke eye contact, a realization hitting her. Her own success meant risking retribution from Boscha, simply for being a better swimmer. But then it also hit her, she didn’t care, well of course she did for her well-being, but it shouldn’t matter if she was better than Boscha. Boscha should want to better herself, not try to take out Luz just so she could continue swimming at the same level she was at. 

One final thing that Luz noted was that she was more than terrified to stand up for herself to Boscha, but if she could do it for Amity who at the time was still being a complete and utter jerk to her, then she could stand up for herself. It was definitely something she could do, she assured herself as she started cheering again as Alera neared the wall, still in first place, but just barely. 

As Alera touched the wall, two other relays also did at almost the same time. A hushed silence fell over the pool as everyone’s gaze shot towards the scoreboard to see the times displayed. Luz’s gaze went right towards lane two on the board, the first thing she noticed was the time, 2:12.44. The next thing she noticed was the place beside the time, and as she processed what it said, a cheer erupted from the other members of her relay. Together they had managed to pull off a victory in the two hundred medley, and their coach was on her way to congratulate them.

\--------------------------

It was intermission again. Luz was nervous again. As it stood, she was finishing her pacing, deciding it was finally time to go get her card. On her way over, she buried her nerves, instead opting to think of something ridiculous she could say once she got over to the table.

The table at which Amity was focused on writing something down on the scoresheet so she didn’t even know Luz was there until she spoke.

“I just want you to know I’ve been practicing my hypoxic sets so that I can get used to you taking my breath away.”

Luz was surprised when Amity jumped slightly, while also slamming her pencil down onto the table, causing Luz to ask, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Amity quickly answered, “You just caught me off guard. And for the record, hypoxic sets are dangerous.”

“Once again surprising me with swimming knowledge,” Luz remarked, before addressing what Amity had said, “And I know they are. Coach warned us about them in like the first week of official practices.”

Amity nodded, “Good. And just so you know, that was a better one than the first one.”

A smile lit up Luz’s face, her nerves disappearing for real at that, “Really? I came up with it on my walk over here.”

“Yes, really,” Amity responded, moving to grab a card off the top of the pile and holding it out to Luz, “And to pay you back, here’s your card.”

Luz took the card, sliding it under her shoulder strap as she continued to stand there, not wanting to go over to her lane yet. A part of her regretted it when Amity spoke next.

“So, are you ready to share what Boscha said?”

“It was nothing,” Luz sighed, looking down at the table before clearing her throat, “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Luz glanced up to see Amity shaking her head at what she had said.

“Luz,” Amity began, fiddling with her pencil now, “I know she’s planning something. And I owe you one for Friday.”

“If anything, Friday was me trying to make up for the whole trophy case incident,” Luz countered, unsure of whether or not that whole incident was still a sore subject or not.

Amity didn’t say anything initially, but ultimately responded, “Fine. If you want to be like that, let me put it this way. I want to help you.” There was a pause, Amity taking a deep breath as she made eye contact with Luz, “We didn’t start out on good terms, but we’re friends now, and I want to be there for you. Boscha needs her ego put in check. Now go swim. Your event is about to start.”

Luz grabbed her scorecard from her suit, turning to leave, but not before sending one last comment over her shoulder to Amity, “She said that I can’t be top freshman forever and that accidents happen.”

\--------------------------

The one hundred fly had been a close event. All three Hexside swimmers came in the top three, roughly three seconds separating first from third. All three close to the district qualifying time of 1:19.00. The closest time came in at 1:20.21, the second fastest at 1:21.56, and third place coming in at 1:22.79. The race had been close the entire time, each swimmer motivated by their own internal motivations.

One was motivated by the need to be the best.

Another was motivated by the need to impress a girl.

The third was motivated by a need to be true to herself.

It wasn’t to the surprise of the many that Viney didn’t come in first. Most people had been expecting it, although not everyone necessarily expected it to be this early in the season. Viney had managed to maintain second place as her own, however, still in the mix of the already extra competitive one hundred fly.

It was the results of the other two butterflyers that were most interesting.

\--------------------------

Luz had given the race her all, staying focused on one thing, doing the best she could. If she happened to beat Boscha along the way, so be it. Her arms burned the entire final twenty-five of the event, but she pushed through it, knowing she couldn’t give up. There was no greater relief than that of when both her hands hit the touchpad as she finished the race, the motion of the stroke finally over.

She wasn’t expecting what came next. She knew she had pushed herself, but she wasn’t expecting her friends to be gathered around the block. She wouldn’t say this out loud, but it bothered her that they were in her way of seeing the scoreboard to see what her time and place were. Instead she looked around to see that only five people were done, a Liberty Heights swimmer still finishing their last twenty-five. It was then that she processed what it was her friends were saying.

“Luz!” Willow cheered, “You did it! You came in first!”

“Yeah! It was totally epic,” Azura added, giving Luz a thumbs up.

Edric was the final one to speak, “What they said. You totally crushed it.”

Luz looked up at them from her place in the water, a smile breaking out over her face, “How close was I to districts?”

“A little over a second away,” Willow answered, “You’ll get it next time for sure.”

“I hope so,” Luz breathed out, her lungs finally catching up with the fact that she finished her event.

Luz noticed then that the final swimmer had finished, but no one had gotten out of the pool yet. Instead, one of the officials was making their way to one of the lanes. Luz couldn’t place which lane at first, but then she saw the official lean over and talk to none other than Boscha.

Luz knew this could only mean one thing. Officials only spoke to you after events if you had been disqualified.

“Oh shit,” Edric remakred, “Did Boscha get DQed?”

“It looks that way,” Azura observed, “Can’t say I’m saddened by that fact though.”

“Me either,” Edric answered, “It was about time karma came back to get her. I’m just afraid of how she’ll lash out.”

Willow spoke up then, “I doubt we want to be around when that happens.”

“You’re right,” Azura said, looking down at Luz, “Come on. You can get out. We need to get you rested for the four hundred freelay.”

“Alright, I’m coming,” Luz responded, reaching up for the backstroke bars on the block to help herself out of the water, “But I’ll have you know, I’ll be more than ready for that race.”

“Well I won’t believe it til I see it,” Azura stated as she walked away, Willow and Luz right behind her, Edric not following after them.

As they walked, Willow looked at Luz and said, “You’re going to be the talk of the team. First leading your medley relay to first, and then taking first in the hundred fly yourself.”

“I’m just doing my part, that’s all,” Luz began, cheeks flushing at the thought of all the attention, “I don’t need people to make a big deal out of it.”

“I hate to tell you this,” Willow cautiously started, “But everyone just watched you upset Viney. They’re already talking about it.”

\--------------------------

Everyone—except Boscha and her crew—was still hyped over the events of the one hundred fly by the time the four hundred freestyle relay rolled around. Luz did her best to engage with people when they wanted to talk to her about it, but for the most part she focused on cheering on her teammates in their own events. 

As it stood, she was standing behind the block of lane four before her final event along with two of her relaymates. Azura had gone off to get their relay card, leaving Luz behind with Emira and Boscha. It was a tense silence amongst the three, all three aware of the elephant in the room, albeit Emira wasn’t aware of everything that had been said.

As Azura came back with the card, she directed, “It’s the same order as last meet. Let’s make it happen.”

\--------------------------

The relay finished first, doing so with a commanding lead over everyone else, further helping the Hexside girl’s team to make their lead even larger than it already had been. Similar to the first meet, Boscha had stormed off to inquire about splits, while everyone else on the relay hung back to cheer on the boys in their four hundred freelay. The boys followed suit with the girls, scoring points to further seal their win against Liberty Heights.

And then it was time for their cooldown. It was only a two hundred, but everyone stopped after about half of it, sneaking off into the locker room to get changed in order to get to the bus quicker, which would hopefully mean getting home sooner. 

Luz was quick to change, ready to get home and crawl in bed for the night, even though she had homework to attend to. She figured she would be able to get it done in study hall tomorrow, especially with the help of Willow and Gus. 

So her mind was elsewhere as she made her way to the bus with Willow after they had both changed. It wasn’t until Luz heard someone call her name that she was pulled from her thoughts of being comfy in bed, Eda’s dog King possibly with her if she managed to sneak him up into her room.

“Luz!”

Both Willow and Luz turned to see Amity racing to catch up with them.

“Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to Luz for a second,” Amity stated, coming to a stop in front of the duo.

“Sure thing,” Willow shrugged, “I guess I’ll see you two back on the bus.”

Willow turned to leave then, both girls telling her they’d be at the bus shortly.

When Willow was gone, Luz asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Okay, so I thought about what you said Boscha said,” Amity began, playing with the strap on the bag she had brought into the school, “And I just wanted you to know, which I guess I kinda maybe said earlier, but I’m here for you. I know how Boscha thinks, and I think that might help in making sure nothing bad does happen.”

Luz rubbed her thumb on her index finger out of habit as she tried to figure out what to say. There wasn’t much she could say, she reasoned, because just less than a week ago there was no way this conversation would be happening, and she knew that.

Instead of saying anything, Luz just moved so she was standing beside Amity, bumping into her with her shoulder before starting to walk towards the exit, Amity catching up and walking beside her. Neither said anything as they walked, no words needing to be said between them, almost as if there was some unspoken understanding between them, as they both made their way to the bus, stepping outside into the wintry air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes the clapping thing is a thing my high school swim team did. no i will never understand why but it was so much fun. other schools would try to copy us, but none were as cool as us. also i decided hexside is the comets because i needed a six letter school name and i liked comets so that's where i'm at. i'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as i can, because i really love this story, but idk how my schoolwork is going to play out, so just stay tuned i suppose!!
> 
> also!!! super important!!! if you have any form of clever swimming pickup lines/puns, please comment them or dm me on twitter @razzspie with them. i am in desperate need of them, and a lot of the ones i have found so far are inappropriate, and that is not acceptable for this fic. so any suggestions are deeply appreciated!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> king is a yorkie for no other reason than the fact that i have two yorkies. plus i genuinely feel like king would be a yorkie yanno? idk if that's just me, but i vibe with that idea. anyways, this chapter features eda for the first time in a while. enjoy!

It was the first full day of Winter Break after the early dismissal the previous day, and already Luz was met by an eight in the morning swim practice. Just when she thought she could sleep in for a few days, she was waking up and getting ready to go swim. 

She was sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for Eda to come pick her up and take her to practice. As she waited, she played around on her phone, scrolling through Twitter to see if anything exciting had happened since she last checked. 

Luz had only managed to scroll for a few seconds when she received a text from Eda.

**_Eda:_ ** _ Hey kid, I’m outside whenever you’re ready. _

Luz sent back a quick text in acknowledgement and then she was heading out of the house, making sure to lock the door behind her, stepping into the chilly winter air. With her swim bag slung across one shoulder, she turned and waved and Eda, a smile working its way onto her face when she saw Eda’s dog King in the front seat of the car. In fact, she hurried towards the car at that—albeit almost slipping on ice as she did so—opening the car door and sliding into the passenger seat at record speed.

“You almost wiped out there,” Eda commented, “Your mom would’ve killed me if you had.”

Luz shrugged, focusing her attention on King who was sitting on her lap, but replying to Eda nonetheless, “I doubt it. It wouldn’t have been your fault that I fell.”

“I know that,” Eda countered as she shifted the car into drive and started pulling away from the curb, “But had you gotten hurt she would’ve been mad at me, and you know it.”

“Okay, maybe you have a point,” Luz conceded, pausing in thought for a moment before continuing, “And in theory I could’ve spun it that I fell because I was hurrying to see King.”

“Ouch, you wound me,” Eda feigned as she drove, “Couldn’t even say that it was because you were hurrying to see me, the world’s coolest person.”

Luz thought about it for a moment, “I mean I could say that, but then she might get mad at you, and I  _ guess _ I don’t want that to happen.”

King let out a small bark, interrupting the conversation as he proceeded to butt Luz’s hand in an attempt to get attention, which he quickly did receive from Luz.

A short silence fell over the car then, with Eda focusing on driving and Luz petting King. It was only after a few minutes that Eda broke the silence, clearing her throat before she spoke.

“Now Luz, your mom told me what happened at school the other week, and wanted me to talk to you. I guess because I used to be close with Amity’s parents growing up, but regardless,” Eda paused, as if to collect her thoughts, before she continued, “I know she’s working as the scorekeeper now, so if she’s giving you trouble, you can let me know. I know you’re close with her siblings, but Amity seems to be more under her parents control, and their strict expectations.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” Luz interrupted, “Amity and I are cool now. She’s actually pretty nice!”

“The girl who pushed you into a trophy case….” Eda trailed off, picking up her speed to finish the statement with a question, “Is nice?”

Luz nodded enthusiastically, slightly bothered as to why Eda was having a hard time believing her, “Yeah! She explained how her parents are, and even apologized for Willow for treating her poorly. I think Emira talked with her about it, which I’m glad happened.”

“So you and Amity are friends now?” Eda asked, as she merged into the highway that would take them to the school. 

“Last I checked we were,” Luz responded, looking back down at King who had decided to lick her hand, “It turns out her and I have a lot in common.”

“You do?” Eda questioned, but continued talking, not giving Luz a chance to answer, “Granted I guess I don’t really know much about her past what Lily tells me.”

Luz perked up at that, “Your sister knows Amity?”

Eda opened her mouth to say something, but quickly backtracked and said something else, “She does. Amity may only be a freshman like you, but her parents already have her prepping for the SATs. My sister is helping with that a few nights a week.”

Frowning Luz said, “That’s weird because I don’t think Edric or Emira have to do that, and they’re taking them in March.”

“Well it seems their parents have different expectations depending upon the child,” Eda hesitantly said, “From what I know, swimming is the only thing they really have to worry about.”

“That’s not very fair,” Luz said after a moment as she thought it through, looking up out of the windshield as they turned off the highway and up the road that led to Hexside.

“I know kid,” Eda admitted, “But there’s not much we can do about it.”

“I guess so,” Luz mumbled out, her thoughts elsewhere as she tried to focus them on the upcoming practice.

—————————————

It was the next day and Luz and Willow were at Gus’ house after their mid-morning swim practice. In fact, they were busy planning the New Year’s Eve party that would be taking place at Willow’s house. They had managed to talk Willow’s dads into hosting it after they had planned for it to take place, and now they were finalizing who they were going to invite as well as the food that would be there.

“We could just keep it us three,” Gus suggested after the heated debate of whether or not cookies or brownies were a better option as a dessert.

Willow shook her head, “We could, but my dads already agreed to a bigger party.”

“Speaking of that,” Luz began, “We should probably talk about who else we’re going to invite.”

“Luz has a point,” Gus reasoned, “Because I know a lot of the upperclassmen will be headed to a party at this one girl’s house. Granted, I’ve heard she’s having alcohol at hers.”

“Gross,” Willow said as she doodled on the piece of paper she had been writing food down on, “Obviously none of that will be happening here.”

“I know!” Luz exclaimed, and when her two friends looked at her, she continued on with her thought, “We could invite all our swimming friends! And since Gus isn’t on the team, he can invite friends too!”

Gus smiled at that, “I’m really only friends with the other kid that skipped some grades like me. Other than you two of course. And the few people on the swim team I’ve met because of you two.”

“Consider him invited then,” Willow stated, her attention then focused on Luz as she asked, “Who all from the swim team do you think we should invite?”

Luz thought about it for a moment before settling on the two she knew her and Willow were both close with, “There’s Edric and Emira. They would definitely come.”

Willow nodded at first, but then inquired, “Does that mean inviting Amity too?”

“That’s up to you,” Luz answered, “I don’t know how things are between you two, so it’s your call.” Internally, Luz hoped Willow would say Amity could be invited, but she was unable to place the exact reason she was so hopeful for Amity to be invited.

“What Luz said,” Gus said while he also added his own input, “You gotta do what’s best for you, and it is your house, so you get the final say.”

At first Willow said nothing as it appeared she was deep in thought about the decision in front of her. Moments later she vocalized her verdict, “I think she should be invited. She does seem to be changing for the better, and I think it’s worth giving her a chance.”

“Are you sure?” Luz questioned. As much as she wanted Amity to be invited, she also wanted Willow to be comfortable with everyone at the party.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Willow confirmed before she went on to change the topic away from Amity, “Now I’m thinking we could also invite Amelia and Cat. They’re really cool, and I have a few classes with them, although Cat might decide to hang out with Skara.”

“Cat and Skara are friends?” Gus asked, a confused look on his face, “She seems too nice to be hanging out with her, considering Skara’s best friend is Boscha.”

Willow took a few seconds to reply, but she eventually did as she admitted, “I really don’t think Skara is that bad; she’s nice when Boscha isn’t around, and up until not that long ago, Amity as well. It’s just my belief that she’s in with the wrong crowd.”

Luz nodded as she understood what Willow was getting at, and offered a comment of her own, “It’s kinda like how Amelia used to hang out with them in middle school, but since high school started she hasn’t.” 

“Yeah!” Willow responded, “Exactly like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Skara distanced herself in the future as well. I mean, without Amity that friend group is definitely on the brink of fracturing even more.”

“Boscha is still pretty scary though,” Gus admitted, “Even if she might lose some of her friend circle.”

“She is the absolute definition of scary,” Luz remarked, a serious expression on her usually smiling face. Her mind was thinking through a lot of different things as she spoke, and she said the next thing that popped into her head without a second thought, “Although, maybe she’s just the definition of the typical high school bully. She’s only scary because we let her be.”

“Luz,” Willow began, as she adjusted her glasses on her face, “Didn’t you tell us that she basically said she was going to hurt you and then paint it as an accident?”

“Well yeah, she did,” Luz admitted, but she was quick to build off that admission, “But look, I stood up to her once, I should be able to do it again.”

Gus spoke then, “The first time wasn’t for yourself though. It was for Amity. You have to at least acknowledge that fact when figuring out if you could stand up to her again.”

Luz shrugged her shoulders at what Gus said, “Consider it acknowledged then.” If she was being honest with herself, which she was in the deepest parts of her mind, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand up to Boscha for herself, but if she never vocalized that fact, then it couldn’t possibly be true. And thus was the reasoning of Luz Noceda.

\--------------------------

It was later that night, and Luz was lying in bed when the groupchat for the New Year’s Eve party started messaging back and forth a lot. Before Luz had left Gus’ house they had decided to invite a few more people, namely Alera and Bo.

At first Luz just skimmed through all the messages in an attempt to see what she had missed.

**_Bo:_ ** _ I know this chat is for the party, but have any of you by chance started the paper for Ms Clawthorne’s class? _

**_Matt:_ ** _ hell no! it’s only the second day of break _

**_Willow:_ ** _ I glanced at it, but I hadn’t started it yet _

**_Emira:_ ** _ look at you freshmen, so on top of your work _

**_Alera:_ ** _ for real. i havent even looked at anything yet. ig that's the junior experience _

**_Gus:_ ** _ I actually started working on that paper a little bit! Why? What’s up? _

**_Edric:_ ** _ y’all are insane for doing work this early into break _

**_Willow:_ ** _ I can still uninvite you Edric _

**_Edric:_ ** _ you wouldnt dare _

**_Emira:_ ** _ i think she would, and i think she should _

**_Edric:_ ** _ em????? wtf _

**_Alera:_ ** _ arent you 2 in the same house? fight out loud, not in the gc, it’s late _

**_Edric:_ ** _ it’s literally not even midnight yet? ill do as i please _

That was where the messages had stopped for the time being, but Luz could see that people were typing new messages. Out of everyone in the chat, only three people hadn’t said anything: her, Amity, and Cat. She knew Cat was probably asleep already or busy playing Minecraft all night; there was no in-between with Cat. At least that was what Luz had quickly realized on the occasions her and Cat talked to one another. A part of Luz wondered if Amity was busy test-prepping for a test that was three years away, but then again, she reasoned, it was after eleven at night.

Luz pushed the thought to the back of her mind and sent back her own message to the groupchat, however, some other messages had come in while she typed hers, but she ignored them.

**_Luz:_ ** _ i havent even looked at any of my stuff yet _

And as soon as she pressed send, Luz closed out of the app and set her phone down on her nightstand. She yawned as she did so before she proceeded to turn her lamp off. Now in complete darkness, save for the moonlight that was coming in through the window, Luz stared up at her ceiling as she began to drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm finally getting time to write again, so i'm hoping this means i'll be able to update more frequently! take care everyone

**Author's Note:**

> ah yes, this was a lot of fun to write. one of my favorite things to write, honestly, was the dynamic between the twins and amity. it's just interesting to portray, so yeah. that's all i guess i have to say there. find me on twitter @razzspie for possible updates with where i'm at writing wise as well as a lot of random tweets that sometimes have a gem hidden among them!


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